Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

November 13, 2024
Amicus Bid Is Contested In 6th Circuit Appeal Of Collateral Estoppel Ruling

CINCINNATI — A request for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has drawn a reinsurer’s opposition in the appeal of a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits and prior arbitration.
November 12, 2024
Insurers Say Kia, Hyundai Disregarded Dangerous Defects For Years

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Several insurers filed a complaint in subrogation in California state court accusing the makers of Kia and Hyundai-brand cars of causing insureds harm in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to report or recall vehicles with dangerous electrical defects, including spontaneously catching fire while deactivated.
November 12, 2024
Insurer Asks Georgia Federal Court To Find No Coverage Owed For Wrongful Death Suit

ATLANTA — A commercial general liability insurer filed a lawsuit in a Georgia federal court, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its tavern operator insured against an underlying wrongful death lawsuit, asserting that the underlying bodily injury did not take place at the policy’s “Designated Location” to trigger coverage and the policy’s “assault and battery,” “expected or intended injury,” “liquor liability” and “duty to defend” exclusions bar coverage.
November 12, 2024
Group Outlines Dismissal Arguments In Another Reinsurer’s RICO Lawsuit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — As it has done in a similar Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act suit that a different reinsurer filed in New York federal court over purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits, a group of defendants filed a pre-motion letter outlining plans to seek dismissal.
November 12, 2024
Pollution Liability Insurer Objects To Report, Says Suit Should Be Transferred

LAFAYETTE, La. — An insurer contends that a Louisiana federal magistrate’s report and recommendation should not be adopted because the magistrate judge incorrectly determined that a suit filed by insureds, who seeks coverage for an underlying contamination suit, should be transferred to Oklahoma federal court where a similar suit filed by the insurer is pending.
November 11, 2024
Insured Asks 4th Circuit To Reconsider No Coverage Ruling For Cryptocurrency Loss

RICHMOND, Va. — An insured filed a petition seeking a rehearing or rehearing en banc of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a lower court’s dismissal of his breach of contract lawsuit seeking homeowners insurance coverage for his alleged $170,000 cryptocurrency loss, challenging the courts’ findings that the loss of cryptocurrency is not a “direct physical loss” to trigger policy coverage.
November 08, 2024
Insurers Dispute Coverage For BIPA Violation Class Action Against Taco Bell Owners

NEW ORLEANS — Commercial general liability and umbrella insurers filed a complaint in an Illinois federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that they have no duty to defend and indemnify against an underlying class action lawsuit alleging that the owners and operators of Taco Bell restaurants in Illinois violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
November 08, 2024
Disability Claimant Appeals Judge’s Any-Occupation Ruling To 11th Circuit

MIAMI — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 7 to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following a Florida federal judge’s determination that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious based on the disability insurer’s extensive review of the claimant’s conditions and her ability to work in any occupation.
November 08, 2024
Former NFL Player Says Reversal Of Lower Court’s Exhaustion Ruling Is Warranted

ATLANTA — A former National Football League player says the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reverse a ruling entered in favor of the NFL disability plan because the district court erred in finding that the former player failed to exhaust all administrative remedies and failed to show that exhaustion would be futile.
November 07, 2024
Appeal Filed By Disability Insurer In Long COVID Disability Benefits Dispute

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer filed a notice of appeal in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal following a Virginia federal judge’s determination that a disability claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant met her burden of showing that she is disabled from working as an engineer as a result of symptoms caused by long COVID.
November 07, 2024
Disability Claimant Appeals Federal Judge’s Ruling In Any-Occupation Dispute

CHICAGO — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of an Illinois federal judge’s finding that she failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia.
November 06, 2024
Insurer Files Counterclaim, Third-Party Complaint In Reinsurance Dispute

TAMPA, Fla. — Telling an Illinois federal court that it is willing to reimburse claims totaling $1,889,541 if it is first paid “premiums of $4,156,531” in a reinsurance dispute, an insurer filed a declaratory judgment counterclaim against the reinsurer combined with a third-party complaint against the insured.
November 05, 2024
Validity Of Kaiser’s Bankruptcy Plan Debated On Remand From Supreme Court

RICHMOND, Va. — Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. has standing to object to the debtors’ reorganization plan, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should uphold the insurer’s merits arguments and reverse confirmation of the plan, the insurer says in its Nov. 4 supplemental reply brief on remand from the high court.
November 05, 2024
Church, Insurer Seek Rehearing Of Coverage Suit Arising From Hurricanes Laura, Delta

NEW ORLEANS — A church insured and its insurer filed petitions seeking a panel rehearing of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ Oct. 17 ruling that partly reversed a lower federal court’s ruling in the insured’s lawsuit alleging that the insurer underpaid its losses arising from hurricanes Laura and Delta, with both relying on First Baptist Church of Iowa v. CM Insurance Company in their respective arguments.
November 05, 2024
Contractor Supports Appeal Of $2.3 Million Arbitration Award In Favor Of Insurer

NEW YORK — Replying to insurers’ assertion that its argument on appeal is a “baffling hodgepodge of factual omissions, misstatements of fact, and misapplications of law,” a general contractor countered that the insurers’ argument “reads as a disturbing, conspiratorial, accusatory tirade” and asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a decision upholding an arbitration panel’s award of a $2.3 million judgment in the insurers’ favor as part of a settlement with a subcontractor that the insurers said provided faulty concrete work for a construction project.
November 05, 2024
Insurer Voluntarily Dismisses Remaining Defendants In Faulty Construction Coverage Suit

DENVER — A plaintiff insurer asked a Colorado federal court to dismiss the remaining defendants in a dispute over coverage for a construction company accused of causing damages to homes through faulty construction following settlements reached by the plaintiff insurer and defendant insurers.
November 05, 2024
Freddie Mac, Insurer Move To Dismiss Claims Between Them In D&O Coverage Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) and an insurer filed a joint stipulation asking a Washington federal court to dismiss the claims between them in Freddie Mac’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking directors and officers liability coverage for underlying expenses it incurred on behalf of its directors, officers and employees who were subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission during an investigation and subsequent lawsuit.
November 04, 2024
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Suits Stemming From Explosion, Insurers Say

HOUSTON — No coverage is owed for underlying suits arising out of an explosion caused by a chemical release at a chemical plant because coverage is barred by the pollution exclusion included in the insurers’ excess liability policies, the insurers maintain in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
November 04, 2024
Insurer: No D&O Coverage Owed For Claims Insured’s Employee Mishandled Corpse

CHICAGO — An insurer filed suit in an Illinois federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend and indemnify against an underlying lawsuit alleging that its insured’s employee mishandled the remains of a decedent whose body was donated for research, arguing that directors and officers and entity liability (D&O) coverage is barred by the policy’s professional services, medical service, contract and bodily injury exclusions.
October 31, 2024
Bid To Seal Reinsurance Agreements Disputed In Case Involving Direct Action

NEW ORLEANS — What information in four reinsurance agreements must be revealed is the subject of a dispute in Louisiana federal court, with a third-party plaintiff invoking a local rule and referencing several other cases and a third-party defendant countering that the third-party plaintiff “continues to seek commercially sensitive reinsurance information from a competitor which is not relevant to any viable claim or defense in this case.”
October 30, 2024
Insurer Removes City Of New York’s Coverage Suit To Federal Court

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — An insurer removed to a New York federal court the city of New York’s declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking additional insured coverage for an underlying negligence action brought on behalf of a decedent who died while staying at a city shelter.
October 30, 2024
Arbitration Bid Fought In Reinsurance Billing Row Involving MOU

LOS ANGELES — Urging a California federal court to reject an arbitration bid in a lawsuit over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims, an insurer contends that the abstention doctrine doesn’t apply and that the arbitration clause is in a different agreement than the one at issue and doesn’t include the present billing dispute.
October 29, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Contamination Suits, Insurer Says In Amended Complaint

ROME, Ga. — Following the transfer of an environmental contamination coverage suit from Alabama to Georgia federal court, an insurer filed a second amended complaint, reiterating its contention that no coverage is owed for contamination caused by wastewater and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stemming from an insured’s manufacturing facilities.
October 28, 2024
Insurer Asks California Court To Dismiss Subrogation Suit Against Roofer

LOS ANGELES — An insurer seeks dismissal with prejudice of its entire subrogation lawsuit against a roofer in a case that was consolidated with a condominium homeowners association’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from storm damage to the roof of a Studio City building that housed 31 luxury condominiums.
October 28, 2024
Insurer: No Employment Practices Liability Coverage Owed For 2 Class Actions

SEATTLE — An insurer filed suit in a Washington federal court seeking a declaration as to employment practices liability coverage for two underlying putative class actions alleging that its insureds violated state law requiring employers to disclose the range in salary for posted job openings.